9th-Gen Toyota Camry Hybrid Earns 5-Star ANCAP Rating

The new ninth-generation Toyota Camry saloon, which is now on sale in select neighbouring markets, has earned itself a coveted 5-star rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash-testing organisation.

As a refresher, ANCAP is billed as one of the world’s most rigorous crash-testing regimes practiced, and Toyota’s latest-gen and genre-defining saloon nameplate charted relatively high scores here. Tested here was the Australian market model which, like North America and neighbouring Singapore, is marketed in hybrid-only form.

According to ANCAP, the new Camry performed well scoring full points for head and upper leg protection for both the driver and rear passenger. The organisation also noted the model’s ‘Adequate’ result achieved for driver and rear passenger chest protection.

Similarly, the saloon also performed well with child occupant protection where it scored 87%. ‘Good’ levels were recorded for head protection for both child dummies in the frontal offset and side impact tests.

As for full width frontal test, ANCAP notes that the Camry performed well here too, scoring full points for head and upper leg protection for both driver and rear passenger. As for the vulnerable road user protection front, the Camry scored 84% here, offering good protection to pedestrians.

Furthermore, ANCAP also highlighted how the Camry’s Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) performed effectively in forward test scenarios, as well as turning and overtaking scenarios. With the latter two, the AEB either avoided or mitigated collisions altogether.

“The AEB system reacts to vulnerable road users in reverse (AEB Backover) but the system is not default-on and hence these tests were not conducted and points were not scored,” says ANCAP in its detailed report published on its website.

Lastly, the safety assist assessment saw the Camry charting full points again, this time for its lane support system. The camera-based speed assist is also capable of some advanced features such as recognising curves while using the cruise control system and reduce the speed accordingly.

Overall, ANCAP notes that the new 9th-generation Toyota Camry offers “robust" protection for both occupants and vulnerable road users. "This is a popular vehicle, widely used for both private and business purposes, which offers the five-star safety that drivers and passengers expect,” adds ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.

Closer to home, it appears uncertain if UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) will offer the ninth-gen Toyota Camry to Malaysians just yet. As reported, the firm had previewed the hybrid-powered version of the current 8th-gen model locally, but it hasn’t gone on sale yet.